280: 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Three-Position Drophead Co
| Start Price |
USD 300,000.00 |
| Current Price |
USD 475,000.00 |
| Time Left |
- |
| Bid Count |
7 |
| Buy It Now Price |
- |
| Reserve Price |
- |
| Start Time |
Saturday, August 02, 2008 |
| End Time |
Saturday, August 02, 2008 |
| Location |
Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester, MI |
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See more about '280: 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Three-Position Drophead Co'
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Description
click for larger image280: 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Three-Position Drophead Co100/180 hp, 4,984 cc overhead-valve supercharged straight eight-cylinder engine, four-speed manual transmission, coil spring double-wishbone independent front suspension, swing axle rear suspension with coil springs, four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes with vacuum booster. Wheelbase: 129.5"Neither Carl Benz nor Gottlieb Daimler could possibly have imagined that the companies they founded would eventually merge, and that the new enterprise would build some of the most storied cars on earth. Neither pioneer, actually, had much interest in motor sports, and both of them left their respective companies early, Daimler retiring in poor health by 1896 and Benz leaving after a disagreement in 1903.The sporting pedigree is mainly due to Emile Jellinek, an Austrian-born entrepreneur and Daimler agent, who delighted in racing the cars and lent much to their development. It was he, too, who insisted the name be changed to that of his eleven-year-old daughter Mercedes.Mercedes cars were of front-engine, chain drive design, a concept adopted at the urging of Jellinek, and powerful, with engines of six to nine liters giving 40 to 60 horsepower. Jellinek's sporting inclinations were continued, though with passenger bodies the cars were equally suitable for boulevard travel. By 1908, several European heads of state had adopted Mercedes for official travel. A quarter of Mercedes production went to America, a market so successful that a plant was established at Long Island City, New York, in 1904, though production ceased there after a fire three years later.Benz cars, meanwhile, were fairly conservative, but appealed to a number of wealthy buyers, among them many heads of state. From 1908 to 1914, Benzes came in many shapes and sizes, with engines from one-and-a-half to nine liters. During World War I, the factories of both Benz & Cie and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft were put at government disposal, producing mostly aero engines, trucks and submarine components.Life was grim in Germany after the war. Few cars were built, and buyers were expected to find their own tires. Mercedes production was minuscule and a merger with Benz was considered, but not consummated at the time. New overhead-camshaft cars were introduced in 1921, available with superchargers two years later. Mercedes cars were still popular for racing, including a few veteran competitors from prewar years. Ferdinand Porsche joined DMG in 1923, after an argument with his bosses at Austro-Daimler, and became technical director. Finally, in 1925, DMG signed an agreement of mutual interest with Benz & Cie, and a formal merger took place on July 1, 1926. The new company name was Daimler-Benz AG and the cars were designated Mercedes-Benz.Following the merger, Daimler-Benz had a wealth of talent and car designs to build. Engineers Hans Nibel and Friedrich Nallinger from Benz joined Ferdinand Porsche of Daimler, and the Benz 10/35PS and 16/50PS models were briefly continued, along with the Porsche-designed six-cylinder 3.9 and 6.2-liter Daimlers, the latter renamed as Mercedes-Benz Typ 400 and 630, respectively. A short-wheelbase Model K, introduced in 1926, had some racing success, but its high center of gravity was not optimal for competition. Accordingly, Porsche designed the Typ S, a 6,800 cc six that developed 120 brake horsepower, or 180 when supercharged. The first of the "classic" Mercedes-Benz cars, the Typ S has come to embody the essence of the German sports car of its era.During the production lifetime of the S, 1926-1930, the line was bolstered by the SS, its 7,065 cc engine good for 200/225 horsepower and 115 miles per hour. For the ultimate sportsman there was the SSK (K for Kurtz or "short" 116-inch wheelbase), available with three degrees of supercharging, the greatest, nicknamed "elephant blower" available only to works competition teams. Mercedes SS and SSK cars had great success, rolling up wins in the 1928 and 1931 German Grands Prix, 1929 Tourist Trophy, 1930 Irish Grand Prix and the 1931 Mille Miglia. The Typ S era ended in 1932, when the last SSKs and lightened SSKLs were produced. Over the period, just 297 Typ S cars of all kinds had been built, against total Mercedes-Benz production of 49,000. Porsche, however, had never hit it off with the Benz crowd and left to join Steyr in 1929.For 1933 came the first of the new generation of fast sporting models, the work of engineer Hans Nibel. Born in Bohemia in 1880, Nibel studied at Munich Technical College and joined Benz & Cie in 1904, becoming chief engineer four years later. It was he who championed shaft drive and created the Blitzen Benz speed record car of 1910. He was responsible for the powerful pre-World War I touring cars and for the postwar sports models, but after the merger he kept a lower profile until named technical director following Porsche's departure in 1929. Throughout the period, however, he concentrated on advanced chassis engineering that became the mainstay of Mercedes-Benz in the 1930s.For the new cars, Nibel came up with a straight-eight, a pushrod overhead-valve design of 3,823 cc. The new Typ 380 had all-independent suspension, which Nibel had pioneered on the plebeian Typ 170 sedan. A double-wishbone design with coil springs was used in front, with coil-sprung swing axles at the rear. The 380, however, proved to be somewhat underpowered, making 90 brake horsepower when normally aspirated, 140 with the double-vane Roots-type supercharger, a bit underwhelming for a two-ton car. Nibel then came up with a larger 5.0-liter engine giving 100/160 brake horsepower, introduced in 1934 as the Typ 500K, "K" in this case meaning kompressor or supercharger. The wheelbase was extended to 3,290 mm (129.5 inches), and a range of cabriolets, roadsters and sedans was offered. Production of 500Ks totaled 354 over three years, followed by a further 419 540Ks with a larger, 5,401 cc engine.Nibel's magic with the engine brought results. The Autocar tested a 500K and clocked a zero to 60 time of 16.5 seconds (remarkable for the mid-1930s) and a top speed of 100 miles per hour, the blower letting out "its almost demoniacal howl� when it was engaged. Motor enthused "here is a massive unbreakable car capable of traveling indefinitely at high speed". Another reporter cited the "sheer insolence of its power".The "classic" Mercedes-Benz is usually considered one of the cabriolets or roadsters from Daimler-Benz's own coachworks at Sindelfingen, styled and engineered by Hermann Ahrens. These svelte creatures display an unusual degree of elan for what was a more-or-less standard body. However, during the Typ S and 380/500 and later 540 era a number of outside coachbuilders also placed their art on Mercedes chassis, among them Erdmann & Rossi, Glaser, Reutter, Saoutchik, Castagna, Freestone & Webb and even Pasadena, California's Walter M. Murphy Co. Not a frequent clothier of Mercedes chassis but fully up to the task was the British coachbuilder Corsica.Corsica coachworks was established at Kings Cross, London, in 1920, by Charles Stammers and his brothers-in-law Joseph and Robert Lee. Never large, the firm claimed not to have employed designers, preferring instead to directly carry out its customers' devices and desires. Because Corsica was small and could cater intimately to customers' whims, the workshop attracted many of the sporting crowd, and while little is known of the early '20s Corsica output, a good deal of it is believed to have involved Bentley.The early 1930s brought some of the best-known Corsica coachwork, including a low-slung sports body for the Double Twelve Daimler and an open two-seater for Donald Healey's 1935 Triumph Dolomite, by which time the works had moved to Cricklewood. For MG general manager Cecil Kimber, Corsica worked up a drophead coupe for a supercharged K-Type Magnette. Later on, more than a dozen Type 57 Bugattis were bodied, including one for Sir Malcolm Campbell, the Grand Prix driver and land speed record holder. The Squire sports cars of 1936 also received Corsica bodies. In addition to traditional British marques Rolls-Royce, British Salmson, Frazer Nash, and Lea-Francis, Corsica also worked on Continental chassis, mainly Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz. Like many of the bespoke builders, Corsica closed its doors during World War II, never to re-open.An older restoration, this Corsica-bodied 500K drophead coupe shows the occasional scratch and chip in paint and brightwork, but is very pleasing overall, the flaws visible only on close examination. The tan three-position top is nicely fitted, but exhibits some minor staining. The car is outfitted with wire wheels, painted to match the red body color, Bosch headlamps, Lucas driving lights, and a rear-mounted spare tire.Supplied originally to the British market, the car is right-hand drive and is upholstered in tan leather, which also shows some aging. The carpet is gray, with tan piping to match the seats. There are no rips or tears, however. The steering wheel and wood dashboard also show evidence of the passage of time, but give a nice overall effect.The engine has been recently detailed, not to concours condition but very nicely presented. The undercarriage has been recently sprayed, but without any significant amount of disassembly.The coachbuilt British drophead coupe body gives an interesting formality to the German chassis, which is more often seen with Teutonic toughness or Continental curves. The overall effect is very pleasant and results in a stunning automobile. The performance, of course, is legendary, and a new owner will have the dichotomous pleasure of a refined British drophead with an almost demoniacal howl.Auction House RM Auctions5 West Forest AveYpsilanti, MI United States 48197519.352.4575Important NoticeRM Auctions usually auctions automobiles at the rate of 20 lots per hour. On some occasions, eBay Live bid software or the Internet may not be able to keep up with the pace of the auction. RM recommends placing a realistic absentee bid now, as insurance to help avoid disappointment. Occasionally the auctioneer may eliminate or reject an eBay Live bid, and the auctioneer may also re-open a lot after the close of the eBay live bidding (usually because of a missed audience bid), and may reject your bid even if it shows you as the winning bidder. By bidding via eBay Live, you agree that RM Auctions may award the lot to another bidder at its sole discretion under the circumstances described above, or under any other reasonable circumstances. Since eBay bids are not shown to us until we open the lot on the floor, we treat those bids just like floor bids. In most cases the floor responds before the eBay bid is presented to us, due to Internet lag time, so for consistency we have made it a policy that floor bids are always considered first over tying eBay live bids. Also please note that all RM Auctions lots purchased through eBay Live carry a 13% Buyer's Premium. Please make sure you read the Terms and Conditions before you bid. This lot is being auctioned in conjunction with a live floor auction by RM Auctions, Inc. All final auction and invoice information will be supplied by RM Auctions, Inc., and all other information should be considered preliminary. Winning Notification and Billing: After the FINAL session in this auction is complete RM Auctions will send e-mail invoices. This process normally takes up to two days. All final auction and invoice information will be supplied by RM Auctions, Inc., and all other information should be considered preliminary. This auction will be conducted on a live auction floor and over the Internet through eBay Live. If you choose to place an absentee bid, please take a moment to learn how eBay Live absentee bidding works by visiting eBay's website.Terms & ConditionsPlease ensure that you have read and understood these terms and conditions prior to bidding at this or any other RM sale.1. All sales are final. No bidder may retract a bid made during the sale for any reason.2. Final bid price does not include 13% buyer's premium or applicable taxes on each lot purchased. Proof of tax exemption is buyer's responsibility.3. All payments must be in the form of cash (In House Only) or certified funds unless other arrangements have been approved in advance. Cash (In House Only) payments will be reported according to Federal government requirements.4. All sales are "as is" and "where is". Bidder is responsible for inspections and verification of condition, authenticity, and completeness of any item purchased. No warranties or representations of any type whatsoever are made by RM. Buyers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own evaluation and inspection. Any announcements made at the time of sale supercede any earlier printed information.5. Bidder authorizes RM Auctions, Inc. to authorize the credit card number provided for $2000. Should a bidder default on payment in any manner whatsoever, without limiting any recourse RM Auctions, Inc. may have, bidder agrees to pay RM Auctions, Inc. all lost auction fees (which is the maximum published rates for (1) the seller's commission, (2) the buyer's premium, and (3) the entry), this amount is due and payable without relief.6. Person bidding online must be 21 years of age or older. No minors are allowed to bid.7. If Buyer is picking up items or using a shipping company other than the RM recommended company, Buyer is responsible for removing items from the auction location by Monday, August 4th at 12:00 noon. Buyer is responsible for paying for the removal of items from the site, packing, shipping, handling and insurance of any items purchased. If Buyer is unable to provide RM with the name of a transportation company within 24hrs of the purchase, RM will release the lot to "Intercity Lines Inc". Buyer will pay RM directly for the lots, buyers fee and any applicable taxes and pay "Intercity" directly for their services.8. The auctioneer reserves the right to rearrange, separate, exclude or withdraw any lot without giving a reason.9. If buyer sues RM Auctions, Inc. and does not prevail, Buyer will reimburse RM Auctions, Inc. for all legal fees and expenses in connection with said suit.10. All terms of sale posted on the auction premises, printed in sale brochures or forms, publicly announced, communicated via the eBay bidding applet or otherwise published are incorporated herein by reference.ShippingIf Buyer is picking up items or using a packing/shipping company other than the RM recommended company, Buyer is responsible for removing items from the auction location by Monday, August 4th at 12:00 noon. Buyer is responsible to pay for the removal of items from the site, packing, shipping, handling and insurance of any items purchased. If Buyer is unable to provide RM with the name of a transportation company within 24hrs of the purchase, RM will release the lot to "Intercity Lines Inc". Buyer will pay RM directly for the lots, buyers fee and any applicable taxes and pay "Intercity" directly for their services.Buyer's Premium13%PaymentCash (In House Only), Money Order, Certified Check or Bank Wire Transfer. NOTE: RM DOES NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL AS A FORM OF PAYMENT. Any questions, please email.TaxesLocal 6% tax applies when picking up items or shipping within the state of Michigan.ContractYour bid is a contract.Place a bid only if you're serious about buying the item. If you are the successful and winning bidder, you have entered into a legally binding contract to purchase the property bid on from the seller. You should contact the seller to resolve any questions before bidding.RegistrationBidders are required to:a) Sign up for this auction& b) Complete bidding approval formApproval is at the discretion of the Auction House.HelpHelp with biddingImages Auction services provided by LiveAuctioneers
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